converting old cassette tapes to cd/mp3?

[coenocyte]

Hi,

I've been cleaning out the garage and found some old cassette tapes that i'd like to convert to mp3/cd format. any suggestions on programs to use, cables to get, etc? thanks. do they have cleaning programs (equivalent to auto-levels/remove noise/etc. on graphics programs), on audio editing? freeware would be good. thanks.

[hootie29]

If you are running XP I would suggest Microsoft Digital Media Edition it is 19.99 but Staples runs it for 9.99 alot. I has a program called Plus! Analog Recorder made by Cool Edit. It has pop and hiss removal and is real easy to use.

hootie29

[kunalmusic]

Use Sound Forge for editing audio files. u can use jet audio, an easy to use software for recording from cassettes. also the cassette player should give a high quality, un amplified output which can be obtained from line out port of cassette player, dont use walkman.

[maurik]

I would recomend to get musicmatch but the free version does not support what you want to do so you r goin to have to pay for the advanced version not much tho

As for leads a simple line out (from the tape player's headphone socket) to the line in (from ur pc's soundcard)

[feenix]

I've done the very same thing. I used Audacity (freeware) it has all the effects you will need (noise reduction,normalise etc). Unfortunately it doesn't split tracks so you would have to stop/start after each track or record the whole cassette side and split manually although the splits are fairly obvious if you look at the wave graph produced.

You will need a two phono (left and right) to mini jack cable from you cassette player to your line-in on your pc sound card or ,as suggested , a single cable from the headphone socket to your line-in. I've only ever used the first option so I can't comment on the difference in quality between the two.

[furdog]

For best results, a quality component tape deck (if you have one). Connect the line-out (two female RCA phono jacks) to the Line-in (not microphone in) of your sound card, using the two male RCA Phono plug to male mini stereo cord mentioned above (inexpensive). Do not use the headphone jack of the tape deck nor the microphone in of the sound card; the line levels are not right.

I personally have my tape deck attached to my stereo receiver auxilliary input (since I don't record onto cassette) and then have my pc hooked up to the tape monitor of the receiver - so it can both record and play anything hooked up to the receiver. I also use my video capture card, rather than the on-board sound card to capture (although you can use either), If connections are a problem, there are inexpensive switch boxes for A/V connections, so you can use multiple sources.

I use Goldwave (see tools) as the recording, editing & segmenting tool. It is shareware, but the price is modest, and the you can use it without paying - it will just require you to close and re-open the product after so many operations. I am back a version, and have not gotten around to upgrading (free) because it has bee working fine). It has the recording controls, and volume adjust - including reserving the recording hard disk space ahead of time. It has normalization and many easy effects. It is easy to use. One real benefit is that when cutting the file, it has the option to cut on CD sector boundries, so there is the perfect amount of sound in each track. it supports conversion to MP3 (get the lame encoder - links on their site) in batch mode. It can operate in either hard disk or RAM mode, use RAM mode for speedy operation.

Method:
* Start Goldwave record,
* Start Tape/LP playing. (if need be adjust record levels and start over).
* Wait until tape/lp ends.
* Stop Goldwave recording
* In Goldwave trim all but 1/2 sec of excess from beginning & end.
* Fade-in Beginning 1/2 sec (or so) , and fade-out last 1/2 sec (smoother transition with noise or off-set).
* You could do hiss/pop/click removal - I do not. (I have tried various tools & programs and did-not like the articacft that can be introduced, I preferred the original sound. Plus I save the Wave files and could always digitally post process them later if I really wanted, this way I have the truest copy of the source saved, if you only save the processed file, you can never go back. Your tapedeck should have the appropriate noise reduction).
* Go through in goldwave (easy to navigate, can see audio profiles)) and set markers where you want the tracks to be split.
* Have Goldwave split the file at the markers (at CD sector boundries), giving it a basename (to which it will append -000, -001, etc).
* Use Goldwave to batch process the list of files that you have just created into MP3 files (selectable bitrate/mono-stereo) (if you want a different name for the files, rename the Waves before converting and the Waves and MP3s will have the same names).
* Use whatever CD burning software to create Audio CDs (if it does not put the 2 second gap in, and you cut on sector boundries then it will play without noticable breaks, as if you were playing the original).
* The MP3s are available for your use.
* I also burn a data CD (& backup) of the original Wave files and MP3s. You can then create different compilations, without trying to extract the tracks, plus if the audio CD has problems, you can go back. I had instances where I would have liked to have gone back to the original Wave file to fix data glitches (single datapoints) caused by a failing sound card - I could have fixed the wave, not the CD Audio (even if I ripped the track)

I tried a lot of different programs and tools converting cassettes, 8-Track tapes, LPs and VHS tapes to audio CD and have founf this to be a fast and easy method.

[coenocyte]

I've done the very same thing. I used Audacity (freeware) it has all the effects you will need (noise reduction,normalise etc). Unfortunately it doesn't split tracks so you would have to stop/start after each track or record the whole cassette side and split manually although the splits are fairly obvious if you look at the wave graph produced.

You will need a two phono (left and right) to mini jack cable from you cassette player to your line-in on your pc sound card or ,as suggested , a single cable from the headphone socket to your line-in. I've only ever used the first option so I can't comment on the difference in quality between the two.

for the audacity solution, any tips on steps to take for a decent sounding file? there's several effects in the effects menu and i'm not sure what to use. i basically want it to sound clear...sometimes i heard a muffled sounding voice. what does normalize do? for noise removal, i just select a segment w/o sound between songs and use that as the baseline. if i want to make it a little louder, what numbers do i use? thanks. (i'll most likely just convert a couple of songs and so will just use freeware)

[MOVIEGEEK]

The problem with the hiss and pop removers is that they distort the sound,although Audacity's Noise Removal function isn't bad.Normalize will "equalize" the volume,80-90% is recommended.Amplify will also increase the volume without clipping.

[feenix]

Yep what moviegeek says. Personally I just take the default 'normalise' setting and that works for me - seems to give the best volume without clipping. What you are doing for noise removal is the same as I did.

Noise reduction and Normalise are the only two effects I used

[DaveS]

2 cents - I used Nero's Trax prog & it worked pretty well from casette to CD...it found the gaps between tracks automatically has rumble & noise reduction .. the wizard made it very easy...only trick was after you import the tracks into the prog but before you burn, you need to save your file, exit and come back in - seems to be a bug that this fixes...once you come back in, you can automatically put the 2 seconds between each track (doesn't work w/o the workaround)...all in all was very easy to use & did a decent job, just fyi in addition to all the above

[iooi]

dbPowerAmp is freeware and very good for what you need.

[coenocyte]

i just burned a cd w/ the songs. however, it sounds kinda muffled compared to what i hear when i play the tape. i.e. like someone covered the speakers w/ a paper towel or something. which filter should i use next to clean it up?

[feenix]

I had the same thing when I first did this. With normal ferric tapes recorded with dolby B It sounded a lot better after I turned the Dolby B off on the cassette deck when recording. Ok you get the hiss (which you remove later anyway) but you also get the brightness which Dolby B kills.